The present invention relates to an apparatus for bonding a heat bondable lamina onto a card that forms a substrate. The lamina is separable into sheets that fit the cards closely. Informational materials can be printed either on the cards or on the lamina.
Laminated cards are widely used as drivers licenses, identification cards, and other types of cards on which information is printed, and then a lamina is placed over the card to protect the printing. Particularly, a card shaped substrate is made from a suitable material such as a plastic, cardboard or the like, and information such as photographs, personal data, text and graphics are required to be carried on the card so that it can be used for identification easily. In some instances, holographic images and other optical or magnetically stored information will be present on the card.
The present device permits selectively utilizing a lamina that is provided from a web on supply roll and which can be separated into sections without cutting. The lamina is made so printing can be applied to the reverse side of the lamina, if desired, and then laminated onto a face of a card or substrate. Alternately, the card may be preprinted and the lamina bonded into place with a heat sensitive layer.
Another problem that has arisen in the use of laminated cards is the ability to lift the plastic lamina from the substrate and alter or change the printed information and then subsequently replace the lamina after the alteration has been completed. In order to obviate that, it is important that the edges of the lamina do not protrude from the card at any place, unlike the square corner of standard lamina used on the rounded corners of standard substrates as cards.
The present invention provides apparatus and methods for placing lamina onto a substrate, such as a card, and heat bonding the lamina in place with little waste of lamina material.
In one preferred form, the lamina is constructed with a printable vinyl layer that will be placed to overlie the substrate and used for heat bonding to the substrate. Since a vinyl layer also can carry printed material, printing may be applied to the reverse or inner side of the lamina, and then the lamina will be bonded to a card that has no printing. The lamina may be provided as an elongated web on a supply roll, and then separated into individual substrate sized sheets. The sheets are brought into registry with the substrates or cards and heat bonded in place.
A further preferred embodiment utilizes a roll having a web of lamina material from which the successive of sheets are separated from each other along micro perforated lines or equivalent that extend transversely to the length of the web. Scallops are formed at intervals along the edges of the web and aligning scallops are joined by the micro perforated lines so that by placing a snap-load on the web visually smooth end edges are formed for the individual lamina sheets. The scalloped portions along the edges of the roll of material are rounded to conform to the corners of the cards or substrates. The lamina sheets are precisely sized and configured to the corners of the substrates or cards, so that the lamina can be of size to cover the entire area of the card with no edges of the lamina extending beyond the card at the rounded corners.
In this preferred embodiment, the printing can take place on a reverse side of the lamina, or the cards can be preprinted and then covered with the lamina sheets. The sheets are separated without cutting, but by exerting a tensile load across the microperforations which form a reduced strength line.
In all forms of the apparatus, the lamina can be multiple layered and include a polyester outer layer, and a layer of material such as a holographic imaging system layer bonded to the polyester layer in a known manner, and then a layer of vinyl bonded to the holographic image layer. The vinyl can be printed upon, and is on the reverse side, of the laminate so it also is bonded to the core or substrate forming the card. If the reverse side of the laminate carries the needed printing, the card or substrate can be blank. Alternatively, a vinyl layer may be used and printed upon on the reverse side and bonded directly to a card or substrate without using a polyester layer or a holographic layer.
The apparatus shown accurately places the laminate sheets onto the cards. The web is either easily separated into sheet segments with the printing either on the reverse side of the lamina or on the card, depending on the configuration of the apparatus desired.